November 12, 2009
Coats Museum NewsThe history of the old Stage Road
from Fayetteville to Raleigh (Raleigh- Fayetteville Stage Road) has been
written about by many people. Some have written of it because of the colorful
Half Way House at Turlington and Barclay’s Inn in Barclaysville. Since there is
a huge connection between that Stage Road and the current NC Highway 55 from Erwin
to the Wake County line, you might find the history of the latter road
informative. In 1910, when Coats was five years old, there were 945 miles of
public roads in Harnett County. Two townships paid taxes for the roads to be
worked and the other townships used the “old system”. (What is the old system?
Did that mean that the property owners along the road had to maintain it?)In 1923, the Harnett County Board
of Commissioners appointed road commissioners for the thirteen townships who
would serve two year terms. Coats Grove was represented by J.M. Langdon, J.B.
Ennis and A.F. Grimes. In 1925, a proposition to issue $300,000 in road bonds
included a tentative layout for Harnett County and included two roads in the
Coats Grove area. Route# 2 was to branch from #1 at Ernest Wilder’s and run
practically as the route now lies between Lillington via Coats to the Johnston
County line. Question- did that road go down Main Street of Coats? The second proposed road was
Route #3 to extend from Duke (Erwin) via Coats and Angier and hence to the Wake
County line at or near Kennebec practically paralleling the Durham and Southern
Railroad. Some of our younger readers might ask what railroad in Coats? The
James Thomas Coats family gave over six acres of land in Coats to the Cape Fear
and Northern Railroad in 1903 which later became known as the Durham and
Southern in 1906.On July 5, 1979, the
last run of the train was made and from February 11-17, 1982, the track was
removed from Coats.Keep in mind these routes were
“proposed”. According to the Harnett
County News October 8, 1923 edition, it was estimated that tax revenues had
to be raised to pay expenses on the bonds. A 17 cents levy would bring in
$42,000 while a 40 cents countywide levy would provide enough money to build the
proposed roads in Harnett County.The Coats-Angier area wanted a
road. The HCBOC and the road commissioners adopted a joint resolution resolving
that this side of the county, which was the most populated section of the
county, needed a feasible connection to the state capital. The resolution
resolved that the NC Highway Commission be requested to place on the system a
gravel highway connecting Route 60 at Erwin, Harnett County, and running thence
the most feasible route through Turlington, Coats and Angier to connect with
Route 21 at the most feasible point in Wake County reported the May 6, 1926
edition of the Harnett County News.
Did you notice that Duke is now known as Erwin in 1926?The HCN, August 19, 1926 issue
stated the W.T. Smith of the Harnett County Highway Commission shared that
surveying of the right-of-way to determine the location of a road from Erwin to
Angier via Coats and Barclaysville would begin and the road would be pushed to
completion.R. Getty Browning, principal
Locating and Claims Engineer, wrote on January 4, 1927 that he had inspected
the location of the new road to the county line north of Angier. The new road
would start at No. 60 north of Erwin and continue on the west side of the
Durham and Southern Railroad all the way to Wake County. Superintendent Ballard
and the highway forces would do part of the work while parts of the road would
be let to contract according to the January 6, 1927 edition of the Harnett County News.A contract for $62,171.82 was
awarded to W.C. Carter and $7,932.50 to W.B. Collins for the building of the
road from Erwin through Coats to Angier to the Wake County line. It was to be
one of the best hard surfaced roads in the state. The road was to be tarred as
of January 24, 1929 according to the news report of the HCN, January 24, 1929. Question-how many years did it
take to build NC Highway 55? There should be no more getting stuck in the sand
and clay ruts between these towns in eastern Harnett County. What wonderful
news to begin 1929 in our area; however, the date that some will remember more
might be December 25, 1929 for that is when Alton Stewart and two young student
pilots from Angier were killed in a plane crash while flying over Dunn. An
interesting note is that the FIRST hard surfaced road to go through Coats went
right past the home place of Alton Stewart who was proclaimed the FIRST
Licensed Pilot in N.C and his license was signed by FIRST in flight Orville
Wright.A special thank you goes to Annie
J. Williams for her donation of three early 1920’s school textbooks which were
purchased at the Hood and Grantham in Dunn. Thank you also goes to Susan Hawley
Cannady for donating the aerial photograph of the Coats High School that
belonged to her dad, J.C. Hawley. Lynda Butler, the late Kress Williams and
Jonah C. Johnson were remembered with donations to the Coats Museum Endowment.
Many students might remember teachers- Evadeane Ingram Jones and Delores
Royals-both have supported the Coats Museum Car Raffle fundraiser as have
hundreds of former students who now live throughout the USA. Please be mindful
that this article was in the Daily Record in 2009.